The Real Police Recruiting Crisis!

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From a lack desire to shrinking morale, culture, societal movements, bad political actors and even generational deficiencies, everywhere you look someone’s telling you about the police recruiting crisis and why you can’t seem to fill your vacancies! 😞 

You wanna know what I’ve learned?  It’s really none of that.  Want me to fill you in on the real police recruiting crisis…keep reading! 👀

Hey everyone, it’s Tom Sye your Police Marketing FTO, and this week, I’m doing it…I’m tackling the police recruiting “crisis” and why police agencies all across the country seem to be having problems filling their ranks. 😬

As I said in the open…many so called police influencers are citing leadership problems, morale issues, a lack of political support and the same old tired line of 'no one wants to do this job anymore' as the reasons things have gotten so bad lately. 🙄

Now, do these things affect police recruiting?  Sure, they do…but they’re not the be all/end all that they're being hyped up to be.  Every agency, despite these things, is still hiring people…it’s just not as many as they would like…or more importantly…need. 🤯 

So, what’s the real problem then? 🤔

Whenever I take a look at agencies who are struggling to not only attract but get people through their hiring process…it usually comes down to them committing one, or more, of these five crisis causing mistakes…

1. Not being on social media

I’ll break this into two categories.  Agencies who have zero presence on any social media platform – meaning they are absolutely nowhere to be found...and agencies who think they’re on social media because they have a Facebook page and post semi-regularly. 😕

Let me make this very clear…it is 2025 and your applicants are hanging out on social media all the time. 💯

The average Generation Z social media user, you know, the group that will make up the bulk of your applicants over the next five years, visits six different platforms every single day.  If you want them to start noticing you…you better be everywhere too. 🌎

2. Ignoring people on social media

Every single day, I run across 15 or 20 comments left by users on police officer job opening posts on a variety of platforms declaring their interest or asking a question about the hiring process…that go unanswered for weeks and weeks before I give up checking in on them. 😳

When you ignore your applicants, they are left with no choice but to simply feel like you don’t care about them.  And they’re never...even in a million years...going to just assume things will get better when they work for you, trust me. 👌 

3. Not making it easy for people to apply and/or test

Look, I get it…you used to have to test for police officers once or twice a year and had all the people you needed to fill your vacancies.  This is going to sound harsh, but those days aren’t coming back.  People have more choice than ever in the Police Officer job market today and if you want more people both applying and showing up for testing, you need to make it available for them when they’re ready and available…not the other way around. 🤷‍♂️

Similarly, you have…

4. Treating applicants like they need you

Many agencies are unfortunately stuck in the past in the thinking that if an applicant really wants to work for them, they’ll do whatever it takes…and they’ll like it.  Again, today, more than ever, applicants have choices galore and your pay and benefits, in most cases, even if you’re at the top of the scale, aren’t that much better than the department down the street. ⚖️ 

Relationship building is the name of the game.  And if you wanna win…you better start treating applicants like you’ve got something to prove. 🤩

5. Allowing an outside company to do police recruiting for you

While all the others are bad…this one’s a killer.  Look, I get it…we’re cops.  We’re not marketers or advertising executives or video producers or website developers.  So, in our desperation to fill vacancies, we turn to people we think can help.  🫣

The problem is, none of these people understand police recruiting, even if it’s in their name, or more importantly what really makes your agency the awesome place it is to work. 🙌

Only you, the invested, caring, deeply rooted member of your agency, knows that and it’s only you who can truly communicate it to the world.  When you put your trust in an outside company to get people for you…you have to remember…they’re not looking for awesome applicants who are going to go out there and do wonderful things for your community and have the back of your friends who are out there on patrol.  Nope…they’re looking to meet number goals.  The ones they promised you when you paid for them, right?  More applications, more reach, more views, etc. ✅✅✅✅

If you want to end your police recruiting crisis, that means you’ve got to start doing things yourself and recruiting like it’s 2025. It’s meeting your applicants where they’re at…building a relationship with them…and showing them that people like them work for you. 😎

Need some help with that? 🙋‍♂️🙋‍♀️

I’ve got a ton of free resources like my Marketing ‘For Cops’ Newsletter, which you're reading right now, my weekly long form educational videos, and a variety of downloadable learning guides which are all a great place to get started! If you want to accelerate the whole thing, check out the courses section and start learning like it’s 2025 too! 🧠

Give my page a visit today at forcopstraining.com and end your recruiting crisis. 💪

Have a friend in recruiting who really needs to break the constraints of these five crisis causing mistakes?  Share this newsletter with them so they can learn too.  Trust me, they’ll be super happy that you did, and I’d appreciate it too! 🤝

Have more questions about police recruiting, marketing, or anything else you're struggling with? Don't hesitate to reach out...I’m always here to help. 🙏

Until next week my Police Marketing Squad, happy recruiting! 😃

Tom

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👋 I’m Tom Sye, your Police Marketing FTO. I founded ‘For Cops’ Training to teach Police Departments how to attract more qualified candidates through the same tried and tested methods I’ve used for the past ten years at my own department to keep up with turnover and stay ahead of vacancies.

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